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2 The Canadian Statesman, Bowmanville, March 23, 1983 Section Two Editorial Comment 3 Have a Nice Day More often than not, when you are desperately searching for a conversational item of interest, your attention turns to the weather. This week, we were trying to decide upon some current issue about which to write. But, for lack of a better subject, we again turned to the weather for help. We will all agree that the winter of 1982-83 must go on record as one of the tamest and most bearable in history. Homeowners are rolling in saved heating dollars and politicians are patting themselves on the backs for exemplary management in saving thousands of dollars in snow removal. But, why must we pay the price of this mild winter on the first day of Spring? We should be polishing our golf clubs and restringing our tennis racquets, not shovelling the front walk. There appears to be no justice. From all newspaper reports, everything seemed to be going along quite nicely. Inflation had dropped to a new low of 7.4 per cent, home repossessions were down, and most noteworthy of all, Hsing-Hsing the giant panda, finally persuaded Ling- Ling that her headache was gone. A spring baby must certainly be on the way. However, Spring and all its features quickly vanished with the freezing rain and snow that hit Monday. Hopefully, it was just a reminder from Old Man Winter that he had spared us this year. Although our farming background is very limited, we are sure that this last blast of winter must have thrown a monkey wrench into the tractors of local farmers. With any kind of luck, nothing will have been destroyed by Jack Frost. Well, we feel that we have just about worn out the weather. Once again, this valuable topic has served as an issue of controversy for a desperate writer. Best of all, we could probably write another editorial about the same topic tomorrow. But then again, that's the weather! Have a nice day! The Suspense is Awesome Gradually, the candidates for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party are entering the race that will end at their convention in June. This week, Brian Mulroney and John Crosbie are expected to enter the fray with more to come as time goes on. Our own Allan Lawrence is still uncommitted although there are indications that he may toss his hat into the ring within the not too distant future, always depending on circumstances and available support. The one big name candidate that is still being coy about entering or not entering appears to be Ontario's Premier Wm. Davis. While repeatedly intimating that he has no intention of leaving Ontario for federal politics, Mr. Davis has been making such comments in a manner that leaves some doubt in the minds of those who raised the question. In other words, the door has not yet been completely closed and locked and in the interim people known to be favorable to his candidacy reportedly have been criss crossing the country assessing what support would be available to him if he did run. Some say he's waiting to see if Joe Clark's attempt to resume the leadership is meeting with great success and is ready to step into the E icture, if such support appears to e lagging and Brian Mulroney's campaign is gaining strength. So lorlg as Clark is holding his own, Davis may remain one of his backers, but let it begin to falter and he might take on the big gun from Quebec. At the moment, about all the present tactics are producing is confusion in the minds of the public and an uneasy situation among supporters of the party because, while many do not want Clark again, A Lesson to We are certainly not yet out of the economic woods in Canada, but yesterday's announcement that the French franc has again be devalued, with inflation rampant gives us cause to think. Apparently, the French socialist government, instead of cutting back and adopting restraint policies during the economic slump, took the other course. They pump primed the economy with massive amounts of funds to increase spending power and stimulate employment . . . typical socialist policies that have been advocated by proponents for many years. And it must be admitted they are popular programs there doesn't appear to be any outstanding successor in sight. Davis would certainly fill that gap, especially among Ontario supporters. But, how he would do among western representatives and in Quebec is the so far unknown quantity. He doesn't speak French which is a handicap, he fought Alberta's attempt to raise the price of oil and is not too well known, other than as an Easterner in the other western provinces. Anyway, the media are having a field day, analyzing and speculating on the prospects for each candidate in the race at this point. The biggest problem for both the news people and the party is that everybody is looking for a Messiah to lead the PCs into the next election and they are hard to come by. In the meantime, the PC party is still leading in the polls although they have dropped a few points since the Winnipeg convention and could drop more in the weeks ahead if they can't come up with someone far more popular as a vote getter than those already' in thé competition.' S' The current confusion is bound to be interpreted as weakness within the party ranks. So far, the Liberals lead by Pierre Trudeau are still plodding along hoping that the economy will improve considerably in the year or two ahead, so they'll be looked upon more kindly by the electorate than they have been recently. There's no sign that Trudeau intends to seek an early retirement from office and no apparent heir waiting for that to happen. Frankly, we wouldn't be a bit surprised to see him hang in there and contest the next election if things appear favorable for another victory. Right now it's quite a cat and mouse game both parties are playing and it will be most interesting to watch the outcome. be Learned with the rank and file, but unfortunately the long term result is devastating. Now, these vast spending sprees are catching up with the government and. the people while neighboring governments that have played the game more cautiously are finding their economics in much better shape than France's. The economic facts of life are the same for governments as they are for people. If you continue spending more than you are taking in, it will catch up with you, sooner or later, and when it does the impact is tragic and deadly. The Sap is Running SUGAR and SPICE Curse of the 20th Century t ■V A newspaper article the other day reminded me of one of the inexorable laws of modern life: Things multiply in inverse proportion to their use. It is a simple fact, and we've all been through it, that there are certain things in life that multiply like rabbits, and others that invariably disappear forever. No matter how hard you try to get rid of pennies, they just build up, and if you carry your loose change in your pants pocket, as I do, after a week you are listing heavily to the right. You pile your 18 pennies on the top of the dresser and start again, and a week later you have 22 pennies in the same pocket. Another multiplier is the single sock. Start out a new year with 12 pairs of socks. In three months you'll have six pairs and six odd socks. In six months, you'll have 12 single socks. After years of suffering this, I've counter-attacked. I now buy 12 pairs of identical socks, so that after six months, at least I have six pairs of socks. Ladies used to have the same problem, before the invention of panty-hose. But this discovery hasn't lessened their problems. In the old days, if they got a run, they usually had a spare single to match the good one with. But now, if you get a hole in one leg of your pantyhose, pantyhose, you're scuppered. Out they go, the intact one with the bum one. Women also have other multipliers in the singles division: earrings and gloves. How many women in this fair land have seven or eight exquisite single earrings and four or five superb single gloves? It's quite fashionable these days for a man to wear a single earring, and a practical chap who lost a glove would wear the other and put his bare hand in his pocket. But women don't think that way, and the gloves and earrings proliferate in their solitary glory. Old keys multiply at a fantastic rate, until cupboard drawers and plastic bowls are overflowing with them. We have a huge collection of car keys going back to our fifth-last car, every key to the house before we changed the locks, and enough skeleton keys to outfit James Bond on one of his capers. New keys are diminishers. We have lost two sets of keys to our present car, and sometimes search for half an hour to find one of the new sets we had to order. The new keys to the new locks disappeared, and we had to take off the locks and go to the key man for new ones. I wonder where they are, at this moment? The new ones that is. Paper is definitely in the multiplier list, especially if you are a writer and/or teacher. As both, I sit to write this column in a sort of tunnel between two massive piles of paper higher than my head. When I sit down to mark papers, I'm in another tunnel between essays and tests and bureaucratic bumph. Makes me feel like an old badger. Bottles, particularly those on which there is no deposit return, pile up about as fast as you can empty them. But prepare to take back your beer-case of empties, and there are always two missing. Where did they go? Is there a guy, or a dame, hiding behind the furnace who sneaks up when you are beddy-byes, drinks two of your beers, then eats the bottles? For the ladies, the wrong shades of lipstick and half-empty bottles of nail polish multiply, along with saucers for which the cups have disappeared. Wire coat hangers reproduce like rats. The other day, while attempting to get my coat out of the closet, I knocked down six empty hangers. I carefully fished them up from among the parts of the vacuum cleaner, took another 40 empty hangers off the pole, tied them all together with cord, marched calmly into the basement and hurled them into the woodpile. Two weeks later, I knocked down eight hangers while getting my coat, and sat down and wept tears of fury and frustration. Pencils multiply, but there's never one in the house when you are trying to take down a long-distance phone message. Odd buttons multiply until it seems like a button factory. But when you need two the same size and color, forget it. You have six thousand buttons, no two alike. You think you don't take many- snapshots. Been to the attic lately? There are twelve boxes of them up there, right from your own baby pictures, through your courting days, into your own children at every stage, and about five hundred of the grandchildren. But just try to find that especially good one you wanted to send to Aunt Mabel. Completely vanished. Shoes multiply. My wife has about thirty-six pairs, most of them out of style, just like that outfit she had to get the shoes to go with. She has to tear my comfortable old shoes out of my hands to put them in the garbage. I go to a half-price sale, buy three new pairs, and they sit there, stiff and stark, while I go on wearing the old shabby ones. Stamps run out; magazines pile up to the ceiling. Bills and receipts multiply while bank accounts diminish. Pornography flourishes as sex drive diminishes. Television channels multiply while their contents diminish in quality. Workmanship diminishes as cost of:- it soars. - And I've just touched the surface. - How about acid rain and fish? Or.- safe, salted highways and holes in your car? Was it always like this, or is it just a curse of the twentieth century? Make up your own list; two columns, one headed Multipliers, the other Diminishers. It will shake you. Qtye (Eanabian Statesman 623-3303 Durham County's Great Family Journal HUbUehod 129 years ago In 1854. Also Incorporating The Bowmanville News The Newcastle Independent The Orono News Second class mall registration number 1561 Produced every Wednesday by THEJAMESPUBLISHING COMPANY LIMITED 82 66 King St. W., Bowmanville, Ontario UC 3K9 JOHN M. JAMES RICHARD A. JAMES Editor -- Publisher Assislanl Publisher GEO. P. MORRIS BRIAN PURDY DONALD BISHOP Business Mgr. Advertising Mgr. Plant Mgr. All layouts and composition ol advertisements produced by the employees ol The Canadian Statesman. The Newcastle Independent and The James Publishing Company Limited are protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission ol the publishers. 115.00 a year -- a months $8.00 strictly In advance lorelyn -- $45.00 a year Although every precaution will be taken to avoid error, The Canadian Statesman accepts advertising In Its columns on the understanding that It will not be liable lor any error In the advertisement published hereunder unless a proof of such advertisement Is requested In writing by the advertiser and returned to The Canadian Statesman business office duly signed by the advertiser and with such error or corrections plainly noted In writing thereon, and In that case If any error so noted Is not corrected by The Canadian Statesman its liability shall not exceed such a portion of the entire cost of such advertisement as the space occupied by the noted error bears to the whole space occupied by such advertisement. New Efficient Approach Speeds Up Progress of Municipality's Business Compared to meetings of the past, in which councillors burned the midnight oil, recent committee and council sessions are moving at almost supersonic speed. Several reasons have been suggested for the increased efficiency at meetings: The structure of the committee system has been modified during the last term of council. Elected officials now serving on council all have previous experience at their jobs. In addition, there are suggestions that councillors are doing their homework and are receiving effective reports from staff before decisions are made. Councillor Ann Cowman, who last week's meeting ot the general purpose committee, pointed out that much of the credit for efficient meetings should go to staff. Municipal staff write reports on which many town decisions are made. These reports have been precise and well-written, said Councillor Cowman. The councillor added that the overall approach and atmosphere in meetings is much more "professional." Councillor Marie Hubbard says she believes elected officials are doing their homework so that they have all of the necessary background before they arrive at a meeting. She reports that there is a better "esprit de corps" among councillors and she also compliments the staff reports that councillors use in their decision-making. She noted that council has put policies into place so that staff can go about their day-to-day work. A good example of the speed at which the 1983 council is operating could be seen at a meeting of the general purpose and administration committee Monday, March 7. Elected officials breezed through over 30 items of a thick agenda and in addition they heard a lengthy presentation on the GO Transit lakeshore extension. This was all accomplished before the lunch hour. Poet's Corner VALUES Small towns' histories Some with glory past, As progress marches forward, Solid values fading fast. People needing houses Use space of fertile fields, Machines replace people, Industry, energy big dollar yields. Money the exchange for homes, For clothes and food Cannot fill an empty field Where once an orchard stood. Dollars showering, will not grow grain Or hold moisture in the Earth, Wealth will not stop hunger-pain When that is all our worth, -- By R. Lilley